'Bark for Life' will feature canine cancer survivors

Each year, communities across the country come together at local American Cancer Society Relay for Life events to celebrate their friends and neighbors who have survived the disease.

This weekend, residents of Hoschton and Jackson County will celebrate their four-legged friends who have survived cancer or supported a human through a battle with cancer.

The American Cancer Society will host its inaugural Jackson Bark for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday as part of Hoschton's Fall Festival. There will be canine talent, beauty and costume contests, as well as a pet parade led by canine and human cancer survivors. Dog owners may enter their dogs into the contests for $25, which goes to support the Jackson County Relay for Life. All registered dogs will get a Bark for Life bandana and goody bag, and contest winners will receive additional prizes.

"I think one of the biggest things is that they can inspire people who are going through treatment," said Claibourne Jordan, a member of the Humane Society of Jackson County. "These dogs went through it, and they can be good companions for people who are going through it, too."

Jordan will be at Bark for Life collecting pet food for the humane society and celebrating her 8-year-old boxer Haley, who survived her own battle with cancer earlier this year.

Haley's veterinarian diagnosed her with blast-cell tumors last spring after Jordan brought her in to have a lump on her front leg examined.

"I knew I needed to get it checked out because boxers are prone to cancer," Jordan said. "My parents had just lost their first boxer to cancer earlier that year, so we were all kind of on edge about it."

It was hard to accept the diagnosis so soon after her family lost the dog she'd grown up with, Jordan said. Haley was her only friend when she first moved to Georgia.

The vet worried that cancer would spread to the dog's lymph nodes, but surgery removed the tumors before that happened, Jordan said. Three surgeries and a few months later, Haley was back to her old self.

Like with human cancers, early detection was key, Jordan said.

The American Cancer Society launched the Bark for Life events to share success stories like Haley's to help inspire dog owner's who might be coping with their pet's battle with cancer and to inspire patients battling cancer, said Victoria Patrick, an event organizer the American Cancer Society.

The event also gives cancer survivors a chance to celebrate their four-legged friends who showered them with love while they were sick, she said.